Shel was engrossed by the sapphires, holding them up to the light for a closer look. She did manage to spare an encouraging, getting-away-with-it sort of smile to encourage the young Chiss. "Secrets of good taste, sweetie, you develop it by trying all sorts of things to see what suits you." In a stage whisper, she added, "Even things you can't afford just this moment... you never know, you might be flush some day soon!"
"It's almost like a science thing, when you think about it like that," she added thoughtfully. "The spirit of experiment!" Turning her head briefly away from the mirror in which she'd been holding the orange gemstones up near her face,she glanced at Alister to see if he'd react to that analogy with more annoyance or amusement. Either would be something!
((sorry, had a bad couple of days for focusing on non-work writing!

))